SilverFish or FishMoth Insect

One of the most common household pests that any homeowner should attend to is the silverfish. Often found in old books, under mattresses or old sofas and in damp and dark areas.

Silverfish are small insects, usually about half an inch long which choose cool and damp places to breed in. They feed on items that are organic, mostly the starchy kind like cereals and grains, food crumbs, even paper, books and cardboard boxes. When looking for solutions on how to get rid of silverfish, consider safer methods such as home remedies, rather than using chemical based insecticides.Silverfish usually avoid well lit areas and frequently thrive on moist surfaces. If you are trying to get rid of silverfish in your household, remember to check even the smallest cracks on walls, floors, closets and behind your furniture. Be especially vigilant in areas of your home where there are water pipes, especially in the basement.

Here are some simple home remedies you could use to get rid of silverfish in your home:

Spices

Put aromatic spices like sage, bay leaves and cloves inside porous sachets in places where silverfish occur.They are easy repellants for silverfish, because of their strong smells. You can put these spices inside porous sachets and hang them inside your closets or behind your washing machine. Also lay them under your Sofa cushions and under mattresses

Mothballs

Another home remedy for how to get red of silverfish is mothballs. Silverfish cannot stand the smell of mothballs, so place these on areas where you find these insects are seen frequently.CucumbersThe smell of cucumbers acts as a good repellent for silverfish. Cut thick strips of a cucumber and put these strips inside your cabinet, cupboard or other slots where you think silverfish may be hiding. Replace the strips with new once every time they dry up.DehumidifySince silverfish love damp and wet places, make sure that there are no broken water pipes or stagnant water where these insects can breed. It is also important to minimize the moisture in the air by using a dehumidifier or simply making sure that all areas in your house are properly ventilated.

Boric Acid

You can also try pouring a small amount of boric acid power in the areas where you think silverfish flock. It has been proven that large populations of silverfish have been killed using boric acid as a home remedy to get rid of silverfish.

Wet Newspapers

Silverfish can also be trapped using wet newspapers left out overnight. Make sure to collect the wet papers early next morning before the insects scatter around and dump these papers into a sealed trash bag.

Household Ants:

Ants form colonies that range in size from a few dozen individuals living in small natural cavities to highly organised colonies that may occupy large territories and consist of millions of individuals. Larger colonies consist mostly of sterile wingless females forming castes of “workers”, “soldiers”, or other specialised groups. Nearly all ant colonies also have some fertile males called “drones” and one or more fertile females called “queens”.

Keep it Clean!

The first step to eliminate ants is to cut them off from any food source.
Needless to say keep you dishes and kitchen clean.Wipe floors and counter tops regularly with a mild cleaning aid. Vinegar repells ants.
You can wipe the kitchen counter tops with vinegar at night time and wipe again with a pleasent smelling cleaner to get rid of the vinegar smell.
Wash all dishes as they’re used or place them away or into the dishwasher and shut the door tight.
Make sure your cupboard doors and kitchen walls are wiped clean at least 3 times a week.
Remove all sources of garbage and keep the kitchen bin shut tightly. Rinse all recyclable containers before putting them into storage.
Sweep/vacuum or Mop the kitchen area daily.
Rinse off any jar, container or bottle that has a sticky or leftover residue. In particular, eg sauce bottles, jam jars,cordial bottles and honey and syrup containers.
If you have a bad ant situtation and need to keep ‘ant attractive ‘ foods out, place them in a another container of water to avoid ants attacking.
Seal every food item in containers. The containers need to be of the sort that ants cannot get into. Be relentless about this for 3-7 days. The ants, having nothing to eat, will go elsewhere. This works because the ants are following the chemical trails left by other ants, who did find food.
You may also need to seal fragrant items such as cleaning powders, deodorants, and the like in case these attract the ants’ initial attention. Watch out for ants near these items.Wipe the containers clean of any dripping regularly.

Find the ant colonies and seal them

Do some of your investigation work. Try to find where the ants are entering the house. Follow the first ants to see where they’re entering and leaving from.Especially follow any trails you may encounter. See if they lead to any holles/cracks in walls/tiles. Seal all the entrance holes that you can find using silicone caulk ,putty, glue or plaster. Temporary methods can include petroleum jelly or poster tack. but remember that they will deteriorate over time and open up the gap again.

Soap/ Dettol Spritz

Keep a bottle of diluted dettol disinfectant or kitchen liquid soap. Spray ant trails with this to kill them on the spot and also destroy their chemical trail thus preventing more ants from ‘following in their footsteps’
For added potency include mint oil or citrus peel or citrus oil.

Chalk lines and barriers

There are a number of barrier methods that you can draw into place to keep the ants at bay.
Chalk is made of of calcium carbonate, a nontoxic substance. It doesn’t repel ants or immediately kill them. Ants would prefer to avoid crossing chalk if possible, because the chalk particles can puncture their skin and SLOWLY kill them by dehydration. I have used regular chalk, and it hasn’t been particularly effective. I tried drawing a circle around a bunch of ants. In desperation, they crossed the line anyway.
However, there are some toxic chalks illegal in some countries. These chalks contain lead and mercury compounds. I’ve seen these chalks in action before. Ants die immediately on crossing the line. Most ants avoid it though. It strongly repels them.
Natural kitchen barriers can be drawn as wellA barrier doesn’t need to be wider than a quarter of an inch (6.35mm) but it must be an unbroken line. This will help to keep out new ants into the particular area from coming in from a source.
Powdered charcoal,Turmeric,Cinamon powder, Vaseline,Citrus Oil,Cayyene pepper(hot)

Repelling Aromatics

Mint or Lavendar plants or oil act as an ant repellent.

Ant Baits

Ant Baits can be purchased easily and strategically placed they are designed so that the ants will take the bait and return to their colony and infect the entire colony and they will eventually die off.

This is quite effective but will take around two weeks to show signs of improvement.

Also the initial days you may see more trail activity than usual.

The ant baits will need to be replaced around every three months. There are popular brands like Mortein and Baygon that i found totally ineffective . I really find the brand ‘Combat’ to be a winner. It comes in 12 mini baits a pack and you need to set out all the baits in defferent places along the trail or your house and within two weeks those tiny household ants will no longer be a problem. For larger areas ou may need 2 packs.

It is said to be safe near food products and storage but if you are sticking them on the sides of your walls you will need to monitor any drippings from the bait. Also place them where toddlers will not see them.

Boric Acid

You can make your own ant bait at home as well.

Available at drugstores.

Pour about a tablespoon of sugar syrup(or something to attract ants) on an old plastic lid.

Use a q-tip to draw the boric acid around the syrup so that the ants must walk through it to get to the syrup .Make sure it is evenly distributed without gaps.

Keep out of the reach of children or pets. Be patient as this method can take a week to take effect.

Deadly ant foods Some common foods actually kill the ants as they can not be digested by the ant.Corn Meal and Cream of Wheat are examples. Leave them around near colonies and the ants will eat them and due to inability to digest and bloating of stomach , they will be killed.

The Common Cockroach

There is nothing more repulsive than a cockroach.

Having these creepy crawlies in your house is not only a cause of disgust

but can be embarrassing to have them roam about!!

Roaches are known as being hard to get rid of, You are likely to reach for the Raid or other chemical based spray insect repellent. If they keep coming back you’re likely to purchase some baits or traps. These will usually do the job, but there are other natural methods to prevent, get rid of and keep them away!

Clean and DryThe first is most obvious but Keep it clean. Wipe countertops, mop floors daily in kitchen or dining areas. Use a Trashcan/Dustbin with a tight fitting lid, wash dishes as soon as possible or leave them in a basin of soapy water till you are able to wash them.(Roaches hate soap). Also keep your sink dry.Make sure you dont have any leaks under your cabinets.Roaches can go for a long time without food but not without water so eliminate all water sources.Eliminate access to ‘Roach attractive’ elements

Get rid of those old cardboard boxes and others closed casings and clutter. The corrugated fiberboard the boxes are made of provide tunnels for roaches to nest and lay eggs.Try to keep those loads of unused papersin plastic containers.Try to keep all food in containers . Roaches are attracted to flour ,rice, bread, crumbs,sugars and coco powder, keep such foods tightly closed in appropriate containers. try not to have too many cardboard type ingredient boxes around for long.

Use a Vacuum cleaner with hose attachment in cracks and crevices to keep these free of food particles/crumbs .Roaches love to reside here.Vaccuming also helps to and roach egg pods .Go around your kitchen and other areas you suspect the roaches of entering from and use a simple caulking gun to seal up any holes.

Cats and Catnip

If your thinking of getting a cat heres another reason. Cats will keep not only mice but roaches away as well.Mentioning cats we must bring up Catnip.. This plant helps to keep roaches at bay as well. Use in places where roaches occur. Just sprinkle around.Catnip is available at petstores.Cats go crazy for catnip.

Home Made Repellants/Killers

Tea tree oil,Rosemary oil,Citronella oil

Use a few drops in your cleaning antibacterial solution to help keep the roaches away.

Baking soda